


Teacups & Teardrops

by LunaDreamyKingdom



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - High School, Ashe and Ingrid love Legend Of Zelda, Ashen Wolves Minor Spoilers, Attempt at Humor, Chatting & Messaging, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff, Highschool clubs, Inspired by the persona series, Modern Era, Persona Series References, Sci-fi obsessed Mercedes, Timeskips, Worldbuilding, annette is the Junpei/Yosuke/Ryuji of the fic, annette is the best wingwoman, dimileth, dimileth highschool au, emotional sometimes, has both sad and happy moments at times, has many references too, minor cameos of characters from previous games, otp, student council president Edelgard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26247448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaDreamyKingdom/pseuds/LunaDreamyKingdom
Summary: Byleth Eisner and her father Jeralt have moved into an old friend's neighbourhood in the city of Garreg Mach.And now after years of being homeschooled, Byleth Eisner will now spend tenth grade and the remaining years in actual school for the first time. She will start attending...the Officer's Academy.On her first day of school, she quickly noticed how literally everyone seems to be desperate to recruit anyone for the after school club activities.Not long after though, Byleth ends up joining the chess club (who sometimes refer to themselves as the Blue Lions) and she grew bonds with them all. She was also very curious about a certain person in the club...Watch Byleth, Dimitri and the chess clubs (though this book won't be entirely focused on chess, just a warning) have their little adventures as they go through the school year! These little adventures including school events, group meet ups, fun memories etc..........until the timeskip happens and five years pass.....(Expect inconsistent chapter lengths...apologies in advance)
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 9
Kudos: 35





	1. Preface

** Please read this preface just in case. Thank you(: **

\-----

Hello there Dimileth readers! Thank you so much for reading Teacups & Teardrops! Here is some information before you read ahead.

As you all may have guessed, this is a Dimileth modern au set in a highschool au. However it's a fictional city and country that it is based in. It is based in the main city called Garreg Mach in the middle of Fodlan. Fodlan is a country that has three states which are Adrestia, Faerghus & Leicester. There are also other countries nearby Fodlan such as Almyra, Brigid etc.

This fanfic is inspired by the Persona series (specifically inspired by P3P and P4 the most) which is a game series I adore to pieces. Though please keep in mind you don't need to play the games to read this fanfic. The only game you should play to read this book is Fire Emblem Three Houses which there will be potential spoilers for all routes in this fanfic so keep that in mind. I've had this book planned since February but haven't started writing until like a month ago.

Now about the school year and schedule placement. I will not reveal what the year is but all you need to know is that it is past the 2010s. That's all I can say.

As for schedule, there will be a mix of lifestyles. I will not be doing my own country's school system and scheduling because it's the southern hemisphere and holidays happen at different times (for example where I live, I have summer school holidays from early December to late January because it's summer instead of winter where I live during that time and I always have to remind myself during movies/games/animes etc that seasons are not the same as where I am so I don't get confused) and it would confuse everyone (myself included) if I did my own country's way of doing it so instead... the school scheduling will be a bit mixed but it is most like japan's one (just keep in mind that not everything is 100% accurate). This book is inspired heavily by the persona series anyways so it makes sense. If you're not familiar with the japan school scheduling then allow me to explain it (this doesn't apply to all schools btw but it applies to the Officer's Academy school at least):

Japanese schools have three semesters which are separated by vacations.

Summer vacation: 40-odd days from July 20 to August 31  
Winter vacation: December 26 to around January 6.  
Spring vacation: Sometime from March 25 to around April 5-10.  
  
  


There is also the subject scheduling which will also be the Japanese one. I will explain that too or specifically about the homeroom schedules but I'm going to explain a bit more on how it works:

Students would usually have the same home room teacher and fellow students during their entire life at a given school. Instead of moving to one classroom to another for a subject, the students would stay in the homeroom classroom they are in now. They don't move to any other classrooms for other subjects. The teachers however, do. Sometimes the homeroom teacher will also be the one to teach certain subjects but it isn't always them who do so. The same students will remain in the homeroom classroom at all times too. Persona did this too in the games and so I'd like to try. (I apologise in advance if this isn't completely accurate)

Yet despite it being the same school system as Japan in those types of ways, this book may not be entirely accurate. For example, there is a cafeteria instead of eating in classrooms. Also only a small amount of high school clubs in the school for this fanfic have an affect on your grade which I'm not sure if that is the case in Japan or anywhere else besides where I live for that matter. Also school days run from Monday-Friday. I apologise if anything I say here is inaccurate, offensive or anything of the sort. 

Now with that out of the way, I will tell you that while this book is focusing mainly on Byleth and the blue lion characters, for Part I atleast, other characters will still have their major cameos including Edelgard and Claude. Byleth still has her non beating heart condition. There will also be a couple of head canons (such as Felix being the type of guy who would like fighting games but hate rpgs, characters liking certain animes etc)

Also Byleth has no heartbeat condition which she and her father are aware of but it's kept as a secret. Keep in mind that it is in her **medical files which means that some teachers (or people even) may know.** Byleth also used to have an imaginary friend named Sothis but she disappeared all of a sudden... Anyways no more about Byleth, let's talk about what this book is mainly about!:

While this is a book about a chess club, this isn't really about chess. It's more about the bonds between the characters, specifically between Byleth and Dimitri. Part I will be more happy (there are some serious moments of course but overall it has more happy times than emotional ones) and Part II will be a bit more serious. I won't spoil yet, I'll allow for you guys to understand when that happens.

This is rated PG13. Themes of depression, potential anxiety, potential ptsd and struggles may be included (especially in Part II and mainly for a certain character's case, I think you can guess who it is). Minor mentions of alcohol in part I (nothing huge though, just comedic stuff about Jeralt and Alois in part I). There is a lack of cursing in this book, the worst swear word you'll find are bastard or crap. There is no smut in this book either. Book will contain ocs but they aren't that relevant to the plot.

Also you'll notice the way the characters text one another is different to how they speak. For example (slight spoilers but I'm not going to give context cause I'm mean) for this book, Annette would text something like:

**Annette: SRry Dimitri but u cant change the colour of the tab ;-;**

**Annette: Nuuuu! Dont tell me i got the wrong numba (゜ロ゜)** **  
**

or for Sylvain's case, he texts stuff like this:

**Sylvain: ...He actually fell 4 that? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL**

**Sylvain: LOL xD**

^^This is how I imagine some characters would text if they were in a modern au, I hope you don't mind me doing this(:

I apologise if I am inaccurate about schooling or anything of the sort. I'm not a great writer but I feel like I'm improving. Criticism is accepted of course but please try to be polite when you do give it out. If you have any questions then please ask them in the comments.

Anyways now that I've explained it, I hope you enjoy Teacups & Teardrops!


	2. That Fateful Meeting

_....._

_....._

_"Hey Kid, wake up, we are almost there now."_

Byleth's eyes fluttered open as she was called out a few times by her father.

It seemed like she fell asleep and hadn't even noticed it.

She looked around from where she was sitting and then she remembered everything.

She was sitting in the front seat of the car with her father Jeralt next to her, driving the car, with the car radio on.

She slightly frowned when she remembered why the car was full of boxes.

Today was that day...

The day that she was moving away from her old town, Remire to the main city known as Garreg Mach of the country Fodlan.

She packed up in the early afternoon despite being really tired. Once she was finished, she went to the front seat and must've fallen asleep.

Who knows how long for exactly...

"Looks like you are awake now." Jeralt pointed out.

She nodded and looked outside her window.

It was pouring with rain outside.

She threw out a massive sigh.

She didn't know much about the city at all.

All she knows is that her father got a job in that city so they had no choice but to move there.

That was it... that was all she knew...

_"BUNNINGS WAREHOUSE!_ _Lowest prices are just the beginning_ _!"_ The radio had a jingle.

Jeralt rolled his eyes and tried to switch the radio station.

"These damn ads, I remember when the fool was always yelling out BUNNINGS WAREHOUSE with them everytime it was on ugh..." Jeralt sighed in annoyance.

"The fool" that Jeralt was referring to...Byleth wasn't sure who they were either but apparently they're moving in the same neighbourhood as them.

Jeralt then groaned when he couldn't find an entertaining radio station so he put on the news radio station.

"Now, let's see what's going on today. What'cha got for me?" Jeralt said.

_"Upcoming on the news today is that this specific date, March 30th, marks four years since that major train accident tragedy that happened in the Faerghus state which costed seventy eight people's lives and many others injured."_

This caught Byleth's attention for some reason...

_"This long train ride was on its way to a small village named_ **_Duscur_ ** _in the Faerghus state until a sudden engine failure of some sorts caused the train to fall apart during the journey. Majority of the survivors refuse to have their names and faces shown to the public even to this day."_

_"The famous Blaiddyd family lost a lot of relatives on that accident too if I recall including Lambert Blaiddyd who was the leader of the most well known company in Faerghus. With the leader's passing, the company collapsed and so it was forced to have a permanent closure as a result."_

Jeralt sighed. "Four years ago huh? Damn...I remember when everyone was making a commotion about that whole thing."

Byleth tilted her towards her father. "Commotion?"

Jeralt bit his lip. "Hmm. Well if your curious to know, I'll just say that it was believed by many for a while that the accident wasn't an accident but a _murder_. However that whole thing fell apart though. Man the news and radios always reported that commotion back then. Anyways, that ain't something you should worry about right now."

Byleth nodded and looked back outside the window.

It seemed like the rain got worse and the sky felt like it was getting a bit darker.

"Ugh. I wish this damn rain would let up already especially since we are like three minutes away!" Jeralt grunted.

\-----

After way longer than three minutes, Jeralt let out a sigh.

"We are here now but damn...there's barely anywhere to park." Jeralt growled.

Byleth looked out in the window and saw that there was someone out there on the side path with an umbrella, waving and giving them a grin.

"Father, who is that?"

"Who is who?" Jeralt asked and slightly glimpsed to try and see what she means.

He frowned when he saw the person. He instantly recognised who they were

"Ugh...why him?" 

Jeralt saw that there was a park just nearby where the person was so he took this opportunity.

He parked his car and got out. "Come on, kid."

Byleth nodded and got out of the car too.

Jeralt opened the trunk and started grabbing some of the luggage.

They quickly ran under some cover until... a voice interrupted them.

"Captain Jeralt?! Wow Captain! It's been years!" The man with the umbrella ran up to them and gave Jeralt a huge hug.

Byleth tilted her head towards her father when the person said that. "...Captain?"

Jeralt sighed and pulled out of the hug. "You haven't changed a bit Alois..."

He said that as if it was a bad thing rather than a good thing.

And that must be the umbrella man's name.

Alois then faced Byleth and smiled. "And you must be the Captain's daughter!"

"I'm a bandit." Byleth joked emotionlessly

This caused Alois to laugh. "Hahahahaha great sense of humour this one has! Well I'll help you in your new home in this neighbourhood! I'd like to show you around too tod-"

Jeralt cut off Alois. "Yeah just help us find our new home. Thanks but no thanks to showing us around this place today. This rain isn't letting up anytime soon."

"Ah that's a shame. Perhaps another time. Well, Captain, what number was your house again?" Alois asked.

Jeralt stared at Alois, completely done with him already. "I literally called you twenty minutes ago that the house number is 43."

"Ah that's right. I should remember because that house is very close to my own which is 37!" Alois chuckled.

Jeralt sighed.

"Well, off we go then Captain and..."

"Byleth." Byleth spoke.

"Byleth!" Alois said chipperly and gave them both two umbrellas. Byleth had no idea where those two umbrellas even came from.

Alois skipped on the pathway despite the puddles with Byleth and Jeralt carrying some bags not far behind.

They didn't have all the furniture yet due to the delay of the moving truck arriving on April 1st. Jeralt assumed they were pranking because of the day but they were actually serious that time.

Regardless, when the house that had "43" on the mailbox, that's when Alois stopped skipping

"We are here Captain! The housekeeper wanted me to give you this key." Alois grinned and looked at Jeralt.

Jeralt walked past them while Byleth was observing the area from where she was standing. She wasn't even looking at the house.

Jeralt tried to put the key in the key lock but he was unsuccessful. It wouldn't budge.

Alois frowned and tried to take the key from the grasp. "Let me try."

He tried but was unsuccessful.

"Please tell me that you didn't get the wrong number key..." Jeralt sighed.

"No. That wouldn't necessarily be the case, I swear, I didn't do that. Most of these houses already belong to someone else anyways so there is no way they'd give me the wrong key." Alois kept trying to force the key to unlock the door.

Alois growled due to the inconvenience of this. "Grrrr...this May take a while Captain."

"Seriously? You really... really haven't changed a bit since I last saw you Alois..." Jeralt facepalmed

Byleth was observing her surroundings while she was standing next to her father and Alois.

She then stared at them and saw them trying to open the door.

It seemed like they were going to be a while. She didn't feel like questioning that.

Instead she used this as an opportunity to look around.

So Byleth couldn't resist asking. "Dad? Can I look around the area a little bit?"

They both stared at her.

Alois laughed expecting a punchline until he realised she was being completely serious. "What? In this weather?"

Byleth nodded shamelessly. "Yes. I'd like to have a look around while you guys wait for that to be done."

Byleth may seem serious but her face was very unconvincing. Alois frowned at her but Jeralt knew she meant it.

"Ok but try not to get lost, kid." Jeralt warned her.

Byleth quickly nodded. "Don't worry. I'll call you on my phone if I get lost."

Jeralt threw out a sigh in defeat. "Well ok. Have fun looking around."

"Thanks."

Byleth walked away from them both and gave them the bags she was carrying.

Byleth walked and walked a bit far. She looked around the area.

There were many houses. One of them is guaranteed to be Alois' house.

She then could see the street that seemed to have the shops. She went to go and check it out.

When she did, there was barely anyone there but there were a lot of shops around there.

Byleth felt satisfied after seeing that and decided to look in the other neighbourhood area on the left.

She was looking around a bit more until a unique colour near some type of bench caught the glimpse of her eye.

The colour was yellow. Like a cheese or banana colour yellow.

She went closer to where that colour was and when she did, she realised where that colour came from and why it was near a bench of all places.

There was a boy with yellow hair, sitting on the bench.

_"Maybe he's a new neighbour? Maybe I should go say hi."_ Byleth thought to herself and felt a bit excited for some reason.

She walked over towards him and was prepared to say hi until she realised something about him...

He was looking down on his hands, his eyes were full of sorrow but also darkness. He let the rain pour on him.

He looked absolutely heartbroken and crushed...

It...hurt to see someone like this.

He looked like he was suffering and he probably was...

Byleth had never seen such a heartbroken person before...

She couldn't stand the thought of doing nothing and letting his suffering continue...

So without thinking, she went over to him and...unexpectedly used her umbrella to cover his head from being poured on by the rain.

He noticed the lack of rain pouring on him quite quickly and looked up to see something blocking the rain from pouring on him.

_".....?"_

He was confused until he realised there was a person standing next to him from the side.

He titled his head towards the person that was next to him and looked at her face.

She looked back.

Both of their eyes widened when they looked at each other.

They both had a different look in their eyes as soon as they stared at each other.

Neither of them spoke. It was like time stopped.

Byleth felt weird about this... it was the first time she felt anything like that.

She quickly shrugged it off and disregarded that feeling.

She noticed that the look in his eyes was completely different to before.

Like it was more relaxed and genuinely happy in some sort of way.

So she smiled at him.

And little did either of them know how much of an impact such a meeting would make on their lives...

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Well now things turned out quickly lol, sorry if this is a weird way to start the book but regardless... hope you fellas like this new fanfic =)**


	3. In The Rain

To say that blonde haired boy was shocked from what was happening right now would be an understatement.

_He came here on this very day and time to grieve, listen to his inner voices, to remind himself what he must do..._

**_He didn't come here to be comforted by some random stranger._ **

He would've walked away but for some reason...

He didn't...

They both stared at each other and they both felt something weird when they did so which was unlike any feeling they've felt before.

He didn't know why but when they were staring at each other... He also felt...relaxed...safe...?

Like if everything was going to be just fine...

But he also felt nervous and a bit embarrassed...

She must've noticed that he calmed down when she came over so she gave him a smile.

...He didn't realise a smile could be so...comforting somehow...?

...and from some random stranger too...?

She finally said something after a long while of staring. "Hey...Are you ok?"

The yellow haired boy didn't know how to respond to that...

He didn't know what to say...

He saw the kindness in her eyes and tone of voice.

It was so unusual...he doesn't even know this person but she has somehow only slightly quieted the demonic inner voices in his head from just saying four words...

It was the weirdest thing...

She walked a bit closer as she still had the umbrella over his head. She said something again. "Are you...feeling ok?"

The boy shook his head and tried to shrug it off.

"S-sorry...Am I in the way? I'll..um leave. M-my apologies.." He asked rather awkwardly and turned away.

"Of course not. I was just worried about you.." She responded quickly.

He didn't look at her. "...I apologise for sounding impolite here but...why would you be worried about me?"

"You looked...like you were heartbroken about something...and I don't know why but it hurt me to see someone hurt like that."

He looked back at her and was completely confused.

She said something again. "I know we may not know each other but...I couldn't just leave you there."

He looked back down at the ground for a second and then back at her.

He finally smiled. It wasn't fake either, it was genuine.

He stood up from the bench and turned towards her. "Thank you for...worrying about me. I hope you don't mind me asking this but.... Could you please tell me your name...?"

He didn't realise how awkward the question sounded to ask some random person he doesn't even know but...he wasn't thinking clearly right there and then...

She blinked a few times when he asked that.

She then opened her mouth to respond. "My name is Byleth Eisner, it's nice to meet you."

\-----

Byleth took a deep breath after she introduced herself to this unfamiliar person.

She reached for his hand since that was apparently a way to greet people when you meet them according to her father, which was strange because she never did see many people that often.

The boy's smile stayed on his lips and he shook her hand. "Byleth...You have a nice name."

"Thank you!" Byleth smiled again.

Byleth felt weird...she never smiles nearly this much from seeing someone else's smile...nonetheless a stranger's smile...

"So what is your name..?" Byleth asked.

"My name...?" He looked rather pale and his smile fell.

He let go of her hand. He felt so shy for some reason... "W-well my name... it's um-"

"Hey! Kid!"

Byleth quickly turned around when she heard her father call out for her from a distance behind.

"Oh uh hey dad..."

"The fool was using the wrong key the whole damn time but he found the right one so it's time to go back." Jeralt sighed in annoyance of how long it seemed to have taken.

Byleth nodded. "Ok but I need-"

She turned around and was going to say goodbye but...

The boy was gone. He wasn't there anymore.

"What do you need to do?" Jeralt was confused.

"I..I was talking to someone..." Byleth frowned.

"Oh, is it that little girl you've talked about before..?"

...Byleth felt sad at the fact that Jeralt mentioned Sothis.

She noticed that ever since she found out the truth about her heart condition a few months back, Sothis hasn't appeared again.

Byleth did feel rather lonely without her around to scold and/or criticize her...

Though she did notice that she suddenly has expressed more emotions and felt more feelings ever since Sothis disappeared.

"It was the little girl again, huh? So she finally returned?" Jeralt asked.

Jeralt knew a bit about Sothis but not too much. Byleth had always been rather vague about this imaginary friend of hers...

Jeralt saying this snapped Byleth back into reality.

She shook her head. "No it wasn't her..."

Byleth felt confused as she thought about whatever that was meant to be. _"Was that just my imagination..?"_

She shook her head again and turned around towards Jeralt again. "I guess I'm just...half asleep."

Jeralt put his hand over his forehead out of guilt. "Ah, well it's a real shame that the moving truck will be here in a couple of days but you do have a bed for your room so...once you've gotten settled in, I recommend you get some rest, yeah?"

Byleth nodded and so she followed Jeralt back to the house they're supposedly staying at.

Alois ran back to them when they finally came back. "Well? Anything about the neighbourhood you like? Any shops you have any interest in taking a look at?"

Byleth frowned. She completely forgot that was what she was originally supposed to be doing before she ran into the boy from earlier.

She asked something. "Is there anywhere I can fish?"

Alois looked at her, a bit confused. "Huh? Fish? Here?"

Byleth nodded as if it was the most normal thing to do.

"Well...um I guess there's the beach..? But even thats..." Alois looked rather pale.

"May I-"

Jeralt quickly cut his daughter off. "No kid. Not right now. Maybe in a couple of days but not today."

Byleth looked up at her father. "Why's that?"

"Kid I- We can't go out for anything like that today. Sorry."

Byleth felt disappointed but didn't express it.

Jeralt gently grabbed his daughter's hand and took her in the new house.

It was...rather weird. It was a lot bigger than their older house and it had stairs.

"Wow Captain! It looks like you've got a lotta space!" Alois proudly said.

Jeralt rolled his eyes at the remark. "Don't call me Captain. Anyways, this is it kid."

Byleth searched around using her eyes.

"This main room is going to be the kitchen while one half will be... well the kitchen and the other half will have a couch and a television." Jeralt explained.

"Oh wow! That sounds cosy!" Alois blurted out.

Jeralt then guided Byleth upstairs.

He opened the first door and showed her a room.

"This will be my room, Kid."

Byleth nodded.

"Isn't it wonderful Byleth?" Alois asked.

"Yes." Byleth said rather calmly.

Jeralt then guided her to the next two rooms which were apparently spares.

Then he guided her to the next room and opened that door.

"This will be your room kid. Sorry, there's only a bed here but that's mainly because like I said earlier, the moving truck won't be here until a while." Jeralt sighed.

Byleth plainly nodded.

"Do you...do you like it or would you rather the other rooms?" Jeralt asked.

Byleth nodded again. "I like it. Thanks."

"Good and that room at the end is the bathroom. There's also one down stairs which I can show you and then Alois said he is going to take us out to some restaurant that he personally enjoys." Jeralt pointed with his finger

"Indeed!" Alois put his arm in the air, proudly.

Byleth shook her head. "I'm feeling rather tired, can I please have a nap on my bed for a while?"

Jeralt's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure, kid? Can you manage being on your own for a little while?"

Byleth quickly nodded with total confidence. "Of course I can.

Jeralt's lips broke into a smile seeing how she responded to that. "Alrighty but let us know if you need anything to eat. So basically text my number and I'll get you something."

Byleth nodded.

Alois looked a bit sad that Byleth won't come with them but he didn't want to force her to go. "Ok Captain! Let's head off!"

Alois and Jeralt walked away as Byleth tried to close her door until Alois suddenly blurted something out. "Oh! But I must ask you something!"

Byleth tilted her head in curiosity.

Alois continued. "Why couldn't the little kid watch the pirate movie?"

Jeralt facepalmed. "Kid do-"

Byleth unintentionally cut off her father. "..Why?"

Alois smirked despite Jeralt's dismay. "It was rated ARR!"

Alois was the only one who laughed at the joke. He giggled for way longer than he should have.

"Hahaha...because you know it's a movie...ahahaha... about...bahaha ....pirates.....and ....arrrr...pfft....errr.." Alois started to blush when he noticed he was the only one laughing.

Jeralt smacked Alois on the head. "Just get a move on already."

"Haha..right sorry. Well, see ya Byleth! It was nice meeting you!" Alois awkwardly chuckled as he walked away

Byleth waved back despite being completely dumbfounded from hearing such an awful joke.

She then heard them open the front door and try to leave.

She also heard them exchange some banter.

"See? You get-"

"Your jokes are terrible, stop." Jeralt sighed.

Then she heard the door close and their voices sounded a bit more muffled.

Byleth stopped bothering to listen to them and reached for the door knob so she could close the door to her room.

She closed the door and let out a huge heavy sigh from her lips.

She then used her eyes to search around again.

"My new room...huh? I guess, it'll take some time to get used to."

Though she knew it wasn't the only thing she is going to have to get used to.

Soon, she will be going to what her father calls a "real school" opposed to how she was basically homeschooled before.

She was going to be a new transfer student to some school named The Officer's Academy since Alois recommended it to him.

Byleth then walked to her bed and sat on her bed.

She then lied down and put the blanket over her.

It may be spring but it was still freezing inside.

She then faced up at the ceiling as she rested her head on the pillow.

She got out her phone and checked the time.

To her surprise it was 7:30 pm.

She turned it off and put it on the ground next to her bed.

The lights were already off so she didn't need to leave her bed.

She thought about what happened earlier...

That boy she met...

Was it real?

Byleth wasn't sure if she wanted it to be real or not. He seemed kind but was clearly suffering.

If he was real then Byleth would like to know what it was that happened even if she didn't know him.

And she wanted to know why...her **non beating heart** felt so...weird.

She closed her eyes and eventually drifted to sleep.

\-----


	4. First Day

_April 7th..._

_The day finally arrived…_

It was time for Byleth to go to her first day of school.

The previous days were her trying to help the mover guys set where the furniture should be placed and Jeralt showing her how to use the bus and train to travel to her school.

Byleth did know how to take the train and bus already somewhat but this was still a new place and was much bigger than Remire ever was so Jeralt showed her how to get to the school using both the bus and train to help her in advance.

The bus took less time but it required for her to wake up a bit earlier if she wanted to catch it. She also had to catch two trains to get to the school and then take a ten minute walk to get to the school grounds if she didn't take the bus.

She didn’t mind walking that much, she liked the area that the Officer’s Academy was in. She just didn’t really like trains.

There was also the school bus but that would require her to wake up around 4 am to catch it which wasn’t worth it.

Unfortunately though, she only just barely missed the bus.

Byleth sighed to herself as she realised that this was going to be a very common problem.

So she ended up taking the train which was something she disliked doing a lot.

A couple of minutes later, she found herself in the second train and sat down. She kept staring at her own uniform since she hasn’t quite gotten used to it yet.

There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it but she doesn’t normally wear clothes like this.

Then when the train reached a few more stops, two girls wearing the same uniform as her, walked inside and were standing. One of the girls had bright yellow hair with a headband over her head while the other one had short brown hair who were chatting away about some people that Byleth didn’t know.

Byleth stared at them for a second but then looked back down to her feet…

However the girls gossip was really loud and Byleth unintentionally found herself eavesdropping on their conversation.

“So… anyone else you're looking forward to seeing at school today?” The girl with short brown hair asked her friend next to her.

“Dimitri…” The blonde haired girl swooned.

The short brown haired girl rolled her eyes at her friend’s statement but didn’t seem surprised. “Oh give me a break Mayumi…”

“I can’t help it… Ughh… ” The blonde girl referred to as Mayumi spoke back.

“You know you could just join the chess club and maybe that way, you’ll get to know him.”

The words “chess club” made Byleth even more curious.

There was a chess club at the school…

Byleth loved chess and she wouldn’t mind joining a club like that.

“Eh… I don’t like chess though, it’s pointless and boring. Also Felix is there and I heard that he always randomly asks to play chess...” Mayumi said as her frown kept deepening.

“But that club doesn’t really take itself seriously, doesn't it? They don’t have competitions with other schools and I hear it’s pretty laid back.”

Byleth was even more interested. She made a mental note to remind herself to look into it.

Mayumi crossed her arms. “Perhaps but that’s more of a reason to not join, there would barely be any point to going to the activities... I like being in my current club right now.”

The girl with the short brown hair groaned. “Well then if you see him at school or on the train sometime, then talk to him.”

“I heard that Dimitri doesn’t take the train because he apparently hates them but not that it matters anyways. I’m too chicken to talk to him…”

“...You’re pathetic.”

Mayumi playfully punched her friend’s shoulder. “Pft. You’re one to talk.”

They continued to happily giggle to one another with huge grins on their faces.

Byleth for some reason...felt something that felt weird to have while she watched these two girls being cheerful and enjoying one another’s company.

She didn’t realise how envious she was of two strangers having a bond like that.

They both seemed like really nice and fun people too…

She couldn’t help but wonder if she could have a bond like that with the two girls...

Or with even anyone.

Byleth pinched her own cheeks, she felt ridiculous eavesdropping on them like that. It was none of her business whatever they were talking about.

Then there was a short jingle that went off in the train then an announcement voice came on.

_“The next station is Monastery…”_

“Ah Mayumi, get ready to get off.” The girl with short brown hair said.

Byleth got off her seat because that was her stop too.

When she got off the train, she already accidentally lost sight of the girls when she tapped her card and started to walk in the direction that her father showed her a couple days ago…

\-----

Byleth eventually found the school and walked in the oddly long path to the gates and entrance. She couldn’t even see the other two girls anymore but they seemed to have run ahead.

Byleth’s morning was surprisingly easy and normal.

Well it felt normal…. sort of.

She was walking a straight path that went towards the school gate, like everyone else was.

It felt nice to not feel out of place for once.

While she was walking towards the school, she could hear a girl running up to someone who was walking in front of Byleth.

It was a pinkette. She dashed right past Byleth and went to the blue haired girl that was walking in front of Byleth.

She put her arm over the blue haired girl’s shoulder. “Hey Marianne! How’s it hanging?!”

“O-oh Hilda..um..” The blue haired girl named Marianne seemed a bit flustered.

Byleth felt rude to listen to them like this but...she couldn’t help but be curious.

“Didja miss me?! I know I missed you! So, do you think we might be in the same homeroom class this year?” Hilda said as she wore some large cheesy grin on her face.

Marianne frowned. “Um...I’m not quite sure if we are in the same class. My teacher is Professor Halentin.”

Hilda groaned in annoyance. “Damn, you're lucky. I’m stuck with stupid Mr Kinsley.”

Byleth looked down at her sheet of paper to see that she was also in the same homeroom class as the pink haired girl that was named Hilda.

Byleth thought to herself. _“Maybe..I could ask her for some help..?”_

Hilda slightly glanced behind her and when she did she looked back again in horror.

Byleth stood still, assuming that Hilda was horrified by her but she quickly realised that her eyes were not on Byleth but somewhere else.

Hilda then turned towards Marianne, fully alarmed. “Marianne, we need to run for cover! Annette’s on her bike again!”

“W-what?!” Marianne looked shocked.

_“Annette?”_ Byleth was confused as she thought to herself.

“Take cover!” Hilda grabbed her friend’s hand and quickly moved to the side.

They both sighed in relief when they did so.

Byleth stared at them both, not understanding what happened until...she heard someone’s voice from behind.

“AHHHH!”

Byleth turned around and realised that there was an oranged haired girl riding some bike behind her.

She looked like she was about to crash any second.

Byleth flinched and quickly moved out of the way only just in time.

The biker dashed past where Byleth was once standing and their eyes widened when she realised what was ahead.

A streetlight.

She crashed her bike into it and fell off.

She started whimpering and whining like some child.

She had bruises all over her leg from that.

“OWWW! OWWW! MY LEG!” She whimpered from the pain.

Watching this girl whimper in pain made Byleth cringe.

_That must’ve hurt._

Byleth was going to walk towards her and check on her but she felt someone’s hand on her shoulder.

She turned towards the person who stopped her from walking to the orange haired girl.

The person had white hair and looked rather proper.

The lady who stopped her eventually spoke. “She does this every morning. She’ll recover in five minutes. I know, it’s quite preposterous.”

Byleth slightly glimpsed back at the orange haired girl to see that there she wasn’t alone anymore. There was a blonde haired lady with her too.

Byleth then turned back towards the proper looking girl.

She didn’t really feel...that comfortable with whoever this was.

She didn’t say nor do anything really but...Byleth couldn’t help but feel like this girl was evaluating her.

“You're the new transfer student, correct?” She smiled kindly at Byleth.

Byleth awkwardly nodded.

“I thought so. Oh right, I should introduce myself, my name is Edelgard Von Hresvelg. Your name is Byleth Eisner, if I remember...”

Many thoughts barged in Byleth’s mind…

First of all her name… She could’ve sworn she heard Edgelord instead of Edelgard for a second but that aside... She couldn’t but feel as if her last name sounded… very familiar…

But Byleth mainly wondered how Edelgard even knew her name to begin with...

Byleth’s eyes widened at that confrontation. “How did you…?”

“I have been given the allowance to know who’s new and who isn’t.” Edelgard sounded like she was unintentionally bragging.

Byleth shakily nodded. “Oh uh..I see.”

Edelgard still kindly smiles at Byleth as she walks next to her towards the entrance of the school. “Anyways it’s very nice to meet you, Byleth. I’m aware that you’ve got Mr Kinsley for your homeroom class. I do too.”

Byleth, despite feeling a bit out of place with this mysterious woman, continued to have an unintentional deadpan look on her face. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Byleth knew she shouldn’t be feeling this way.

This was her one opportunity to make a friend even.

Yet she...couldn’t remove this feeling of uncertainty…

As they walked towards the entrance, Byleth suddenly felt a ton of stares fixated on her and Edelgard.

Then she could hear their gossip.

_“Whaaaaaa?!?! Who the hell is that?”_

_“Who is she and why is Edelgard with her?”_

_“She must be a relative.”_

_“IT'S NOT FAIR!!! WHAT DOES THAT BLUE GIRL HAVE THAT I DON'T?!?! WHY WOULD EDELGARD PICK HER OVER ME?!?!”_

_“Is she some friend of Edelgard?!?! I’ve never even seen her before?”_

_“I’m jealous of that unfamiliar blue haired girl… I’d do anything to even be anywhere near Edelgard…”_

Edelgard noticed Byleth hearing the gossip around them and felt a bit of anger at those who gossiped.

Edelgard sighed and tried to reassure Byleth. “Please ignore them.”

Byleth looked back at Edelgard and felt even more uncomfortable for some reason. “Uh...right.”

Just after Byleth said that to Edelgard, they finally made it past the entrance of the school.

There were still lots of stares on them...or rather on Edelgard in general.

Byleth tried to ignore it and shrug off this unnerving vibe that she was getting from Edelgard who hadn’t even done anything wrong but be nice to her.

She found it rather ironic of herself since she was literally complaining internally to herself about not having many friends. Yet the once chance that she might get a friend is ruined due to some silly gut instinct...

Regardless, Byleth saw a locker number with what the paper said and she went to that exact locker to put her bag inside.

Edelgard stood where she was, as she watched Byleth put her bag in the locker. “Well Byleth, do you want some help? I understand how difficult it is to be the transfer student.”

Byleth closed the locker door and faced Edelgard again. “Ah… I’d like to know where the Faculty Office is..?”

“Oh yes of course. I’ll take you there.” Edelgard smiled.

Byleth felt an even colder shiver down her back. She didn’t know why but she didn’t feel comfortable with Edelgard.

Maybe it was the gossiping...maybe it was her tone or atmosphere…

She didn’t know what it was but she knew that something didn’t quite feel right…

Byleth shook her head and accidentally blurted out her answer. “No!”

Edelgard blinked at her.

Byleth started to sweat as she thought to herself.

_“Crap…”_

Byleth saw that her blurt caught the attention of two others.

A girl and a boy. The girl had long brown hair with a black hat on. The boy had brown hair with a curious look in his emerald coloured eyes.

Byleth looked away from them and back at Edelgard who tried to not look as if she was offended.

“Sorry Edelgard, I didn’t mean to say that.” Byleth shamefully put her head down.

“I assume the gossip has made you feel a bit tense. I apologise, I didn’t know that was going to happen.” Edelgard surprisingly took it rather well.

Byleth shook her head and came up with a fake lie so Edelgard wouldn’t take it personally. “No I’ve had a rough morning.”

Edelgard seemed slightly relieved. “Oh I see. Don’t worry Byleth, that’s perfectly understandable. Well then, you go left and at the very end, you’ll see the faculty office. Are you sure you don’t need me to take you there?”

“It’s fine.” Byleth shook her head, trying not to let herself blurt out like she did before despite the temptation to do so.

Edelgard seemed disappointed but she had no interest in interfering with the transfer student’s wishes. “Very well. If you do need any help, please do not hesitate in asking me for some.”

Byleth nodded. “Thank you, I um won’t hesitate.”

Edelgard waved at Byleth before she walked further ahead away from her.

She found the new girl...rather interesting.

“That condition she has...I never even knew was..possible.” Edelgard quietly mumbled to herself.

Thankfully for Edelgard, no one heard her say that.

Byleth then watched Edelgard run up ahead to another direction inside the school.

Byleth looked around to see if those two people were still here but they weren’t.

Byleth sighed. This school wasn’t going to be normal at all.

Regardless, She followed Edelgard’s instructions and tried to find the faculty office.

She was lost in thought as she walked there and then found herself bumping into someone.

She apologised. “Sorry!”

She looked up to see someone with long purple hair and slightly looked like a stereotypical delinquent seen in movies, shows, games and various animes.

He gave her a glimpse then rolled his eyes. He then just walked past her and slightly snickered under his breath.

Byleth looked back at him as he walked away, not quite sure whatever that was that just happened but she chose not to comment on it.

She didn’t really have time to do so anyway.

She kept walking ahead to the faculty office and when she was at the door, she went inside the room.

It was filled with… messy desks everywhere…

She called out to see if anyone was there. “Hello?”

No response.

Byleth was about to call out again until she heard some sort of bell sound go off which apparently meant that class was either starting or ending.

She panicked. She couldn’t allow herself to be late on the first day.

She called out again. “Hello? Is there someone here? I’m new and I was told to go to the faculty office first thing!”

No response once again…

It was ridiculous...shouldn’t there be a teacher here?

She sighed and tried to think of an alternative.

“You're the new girl, right?”

She heard a cranky voice. It sounded rather deep.

She turned around to see a man who seemed to be in his late 30s. He looked furious and cranky.

“Hey, I’m speaking to you! You're the new girl, right? I haven’t seen your face here? I’m Mr Kinsley, a school teacher if it wasn’t obvious.”

Byleth nodded. “Um..yes I am the new girl. My name is-”

“I already know that your name is Byleth Eisner, ya little brat.” He cut her off.

Byleth was already feeling frustrated with this teacher already. She doesn’t remember getting annoyed with anyone this quickly before...

“Come with me, it’s time to introduce you to the other brats in the classroom and all the junk.” He turned around.

Byleth felt like her luck was terrible to be stuck with such a grouchy guy as her main homeroom teacher for one whole year…

She just couldn’t blame the pinkette girl from earlier for being annoyed to be in this guy’s class.

They both walked upstairs and then moved to the right.

The rooms had numbers written on the doors and were in numbered order.

Byleth understood a bit better now on how to figure out which classroom is which.

They then walked to a classroom that had a door saying “108” on it.

There was a ton of noise coming from the inside of the room.

_“Hey there’s a transfer student!”_

_“I know right?! I heard she’s really beautiful!”_

_“Edelgard was even hanging out with her! She must be amazing!”_

_“Seriously?! Wait...do you think she might have joined a school club yet?”_

_“Good question! We should try to convince her to join ours!”_

_“Especially if she hangs out with Edelgard!”_

Byleth sighed a bit when hearing this random gossip.

Mr Kinsley groaned. “Damn brats.”

They didn’t hear him because his voice was heard in the crowd.

“Heh, well, good morning Hilda, you’re looking beautiful as always.” A smug voice was heard.

“Why thank you Sylvain… You’re looking as handsome as always.” A sarcastic familiar voice was heard.

Byleth realised the sarcastic voice sounded like the pinkette named Hilda from earlier.

Mr Kinsley seemed to have noticed too and groaned. “God dammit, I get a goddamn transfer student in my class and now I have the worst brats, Sylvain and Hilda in this class too. Just my goddamn luck ugh.”

“Hey Teach, stop talking to yourself.” Someone in the classroom yelled when they heard him.

He sounded rather smug but it wasn’t the same voice as the other smug one.

Everyone in the class started giggling when they heard someone say that.

“Claude...you’ll get yourself in trouble…” A mature, familiar sounding voice was heard.

He said that but he clearly wasn’t trying to laugh.

Byleth flinched when she heard that voice.

She could’ve sworn she heard that voice somewhere before…

She shook her head and discarded that thought.

Mr Kinsley slammed the door open and was prepared to scold the students. “You brats better shut up!”

Byleth was still out of the classroom because he told her to stay out there.

“Hey there! It’s my good buddy Mr Kinsley! Is the transfer student with you?” A smug voice was heard.

“Shut your trap Gautier! I can’t believe I have to deal another year with a crappy brat like you.”

“I have a first name you know. Ahh… It’s always a pleasure speaking to you Mr Kinsley!” The smug one named Gautier spoke back.

“I told you to shut your trap. All of you shuddap!” Mr Kinsley was angry.

Well this was going to be an...interesting class to be in.

Byleth knew for sure now that this will be nothing like being homeschooled by Jeralt...

“Now come in already!” Mr Kinsley turned around to look at Byleth and scolded her.

Byleth walked in and felt a bit shy.

She then stood next to Mr Kinsley and faced everyone.

She saw many people…

She saw Hilda the pinkette from earlier, both the boy and girl who were staring at her when she blurted out to Edelgard, Edelgard herself, even the purple haired guy she bumped into on her way to the faculty office...

And then she saw...someone familiar.

That someone looked like he recognised her too..

His eyes widened just like hers as they saw one another..

_No...no way…_

Byleth had a hard time actually believing this was real.

It was the... same boy from the other day.

The one who she met on the first day she arrived in this city...

The one with darkness within and who was sitting in the rain by himself that day…

And the one who… had that smile...

So it wasn’t her imagination.

That whole thing actually happened!

He seemed shocked to see her too..

“So yeah, this kid is the new transfer student.” Mr Kinsley rolled his eyes.

Byleth snapped back into reality and tried not to stare at the boy.

“She was homeschooled, she is bla bla bla bla...nobody gives a crap and yatta yatta yatta.” Mr Kinsley said in the most annoying tone.

He then looked at her. “Quickly tell em your name, brat. We don’t have all day.”

“...My name is Byleth Eisner.” Byleth said in a plain tone.

She noticed that the boy seemed even more shocked about that.

It made sense..she did tell him her name.

Mr Kinsley looked disgusted. “Blegh. No one cares about your dumb name kid.”

She then turned towards him, confused. “...Why did you tell me to say my name then?”

Some of the students laughed at Byleth’s response towards Mr Kinsley especially since she said it with a bored face and tone.

Mr Kinsley was furious. “You thinkya funneh? Huh? Don’t give me any attitude, Eisner brat.”

Byleth sighed at this unreasonable teacher. She wasn’t even trying to be funny, she was literally confused.

“Now Eisner brat, go and sit over there!” Mr Kinsley said.

Byleth looked around and wasn’t sure what he referred to. “Um. Where?”

“Are you dumb?”

“No, are you?” Byleth asked, once again not realising the rudeness of that question.

A lot of the students giggled.

“Haha! You just got owned by the new student Teach!” A smug student winked.

Byleth recognised that smug student as one of those two people who watched her blurt out in front of Edelgard.

Mr Kinsley growled at the emerald eyed student. “Shut ya mouth Von Riegan. And you Eisner, I hate you already. Stop acting like some sassy delinquent and just sit down!”

“But..where am I supposed to sit?” Byleth asked impatiently.

He groaned and pointed. “God damn, I mean in front of Alexandre, right next to Valentine and right behind goody two shoes student ova there. The boy with cheese blonde hair, the annoying girl with pink twin tails and the girl with white hair.”

She looked at where he was pointing to see that he was referring to Hilda as the “annoying girl with pink twin tails” from this morning to sit next to and the intimidating lady, Edelgard who was from this morning as “goody two shows student ova there” to sit behind.

And...the boy as the one with “cheese blonde hair” and as “Alexandre” to sit in front of.

The same boy she met days ago...

She nodded and walked there. She saw that it had a wall right next to her desk

The boy panicked and stared at her.

She stared at him too but then quickly shrugged it off.

The teacher seems to refer to everyone as their last names so...Byleth assumed that his last name must be Alexandre…

He kept staring at her in shock and disbelief. He couldn’t believe she was here.

He couldn’t believe he’d meet her again…

But...he did.

The orange haired boy known as Gautier who was sitting next to Alexandre noticed him staring and smirked at him.

It looked like he was going to tease him about something.

“Alright brats so today is the first day and won’t be the typical normal school day. I have to say a buncha crap about schedules and certain teachers for certain subjects and whatnot. Thankfully though, lunch Is still on today but that’s it. Anyways, brats let me explain the crap and that, mkay…” Mr Kinsley yelled.

Alexandre snapped back into reality and tried to focus.

And so did Byleth.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yay a new update! On my birthday too yay!
> 
> Sorry if this part was a bit too fast paced and weird. Also before you ask, Mayumi, Mr Kinsley etc are not actual fire emblem characters, I just added them in for sake of it. No non canon fire emblem will be plot relevant so don’t worry. Also before you ask, Mr Kinsley is indeed based on Mr Morooka/King Moron from Persona 4 but they aren’t the exact same. They’re both purposely unlikable though :p
> 
> Also to those who played Persona 4, might realise how similar the introduction of Annette is to the introduction of a certain other character in the game lol.
> 
> (Also there is a chance I might edit this chapter later. If I do, I apologise for it and for how ridiculous I am >.< )
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chaptie! See you in the next one which hopefully will be soon! :)


	5. Odd First Meetings

_When the bell rang for lunch, Byleth couldn’t even leave her seat._

She was surrounded by students...everywhere around her.

Some of them weren’t even in her class.

“Your name is Byleth Eisner, yeah? You're the new transfer student?” One of the students asked.

“Yes.” Byleth said.

“Have you joined a school club yet?” Another student asked.

Byleth shook her head and they all seemed really excited by that.

She started to wish that she didn’t tell the truth here.

“Please join the netball club! We need one more person and since you’re friends with Edelgard, you can-” One person asked.

“No Join mine! Join the literature club!” A red haired girl cut in.

“What’s so good about literature Monica?” Another girl poked her tongue out.

Byleth really tried to find a way out of this. They clearly didn’t care for her that much.

“Woah hasty! Guys are you all really trying to recruit someone you just met? That’s tactless, really.” The guy who was referred to as Von Regan jumped into the conversation.

They all glared at him while Byleth just stared at Von Regan. She was confused. She was also the same guy with the emerald eyes that were staring at Byleth and Edelgard.

“We don’t want to hear that from you Claude, you're only saying this because you want her to join your silly club right?” One of the students snapped. He had purple hair and quite possibly the worst haircut that Byleth had ever seen.

It seemed like that must be his full name. Claude Von Regan.

“Oh of course not Lorenz, but even if so, I know better to corner her. You all are literally not letting her out of her seat. You do realise it’s lunch time right? She’s probably hungry and wants to go to the cafeteria.” Claude sighed.

None of the students said anything. They just walked away but continued to have their glare on Claude.

Claude then smiled at Byleth and offered his hand. Something about the smile didn’t feel right though.

Like it didn’t reach his eyes.

Byleth stared at him, not sure what she should do.

“Heh, sorry Byleth. That must’ve been rather frustrating to deal with.” Claude laughed.

Byleth didn’t want to admit it but it was a bit frustrating. However she didn’t express this on her face.

Byleth shook it off and grabbed his hand. She stood up and let go to thank him. “Thank you.”

Claude nodded. “Don’t mention it. Oh yeah, I should introduce myself. I’m Claude Von Regan. You seemed to have had it tough. A transfer student being pestered by desperate students who were mainly fans of her royalness to join a school club and being in the worst teacher’s homeroom. Do you need any help in getting to the cafeteria?”

Byleth nodded. “Yes, I don’t quite understand this map. Where exactly is the cafeteria?”

“Would you like me to tell or take you there?”

“Tell me to be honest.” Byleth admitted.

Claude grinned again and then walked to the door of the classroom and got Byleth to follow behind.

He then pointed straight ahead. “You go there, then you use two stairs to go down two floors then take a right and another left. You’ll find basically the students’ favourite room in this entire school.”

Byleth nodded. “Thank you.”

“Would you like any more help?” Claude asked.

Byleth shook her head. “No that’s ok. Thank you very much Claude Von-”

Claude slightly cringed at the formality and cut her off. “Please don’t address me formally. I can’t blame you for feeling like you need to do so considering the teach we have. Just call me by my first name. Sadly, I can’t join you because I need to go to the library.”

Byleth nodded. “Ok. Thank you Claude.”

“No problem.” Claude nodded and went the opposite way.

Byleth then used the directions that Claude told her.

She hopes that she can remember it well…..

\-----

Today, Alexandre was sitting with some of his friends from the chess club.

There were 4 friends sitting at the same table as him. Three boys and one girl. One of the boys had orange hair and was in his class. He was the smug one that was referred to as Gautier in Mr Kinsley’s class.

The other three weren’t in his class. One of the boys had dark blue hair and had some cold aura to him. The other guy had white hair and the girl had yellow banana hair similar to Alexandre but it was long and in a braid.

It was a rather normal thing for only those four to sit with each other. The other three weren’t normally in the cafeteria and even when they were, they’d normally sit with other people.

So despite it being the first day...everyone at the table felt normal.

Except for Alexandre. He didn’t feel normal. He felt so...surprised from that coincidence of seeing a certain someone even now.

The orange haired boy who was referred to as Gautier, was sitting next to him and nudged him just before he was going to take a bit out of his burger. “So Dimitri… don’t think I hadn’t noticed.”

Alexandre or rather… Dimitri answered. “Noticed what?”

Dimitri then took a bite out of his food.

“That you were staring at the new transfer student when you saw her for the first time this morning.” Gautier smirked.

Everyone then flinched and looked at Gautier when he said that, All confused.

Well except for the one with the dark blue hair. He didn’t seem to care. He didn’t even flinch, he just kept eating his food.

Dimitri choked on the food he was eating when Gautier pointed that out and started coughing.

Gautier laughed at him in a mocking way. “You thought that I wouldn't notice? You underestimate me.”

Dimitri was still coughing but he tried to get the words out. “....ugh..what..are..”

Dimitri still coughed and some of the other tables were staring at him.

“Are you choking, Mr Alexandre?” The guy with white hair seemed alarmed.

Dimitri didn’t even answer.

Gautier tried to pat Dimitri’s back to help him out. “Ok...I didn’t mean to make you choke.”

Dimitri then eventually stopped choking and breathed rather deeply.

“Are you alright?” The guy with white hair asked Dimitri.

Before Dimitri could even respond, the guy with dark blue hair spoke first. “He’s probably dying.”

“Felix!” The girl with the banana hair colour lightly smacked the guy with dark blue hair’s head whose name seemed to be Felix.

Dimitri finally spoke normally and faced the guy with white hair. “Yes I’m fine Dedue.”

The guy with the white hair whose name was Dedue frowned. “Do please be careful.”

Dimitri laughed a bit awkwardly. “Really Dedue. I’m fine, it wasn’t anything.”

Dedue then sat back down on his chair.

Dimitri then faced Gautier who had an annoying smirk formed on his lips. “Sylvain, what in blazes did you mean before?”

“I’d tell you about your crush on the transfer student but it bothered you so much that it caused you to choke.” Gautier or rather...Sylvain winked at Dimitri.

The girl with the banana hair colour had her eyes widen at that statement. “Dimitri has a crush on the transfer student?!”

“No Ingrid I don’t! Sylvain, you misunderstood.” Dimitri sighed and referred to the banana hair coloured girl as her first name that was apparently Ingrid.

Sylvain raised his eyebrows to continue teasing Dimitri. “Oh really? Why were you staring at her then?”

“I was…” Dimitri didn't know how to word this.

Dimitri took a deep breath and tried to find the words to say.

But he couldn’t. He felt way too hesitant so he lied. “I don’t know why I was. I just did.”

Sylvain giggled mockingly which irritated Dimitri. “Stop laughing. It isn’t what you think it is, Sylvain.”

“If you say so.” Sylvain said sarcastically.

Ingrid then glared at Sylvain basically telling him to shut up.

She then looked down on her plate to realise that all her food was gone.

She blushed because she was still hungry for more food but she said nothing and left the table with her tray.

She didn’t want to be teased by her friends about that.

“Hey! Ingrid?!” Sylvain yelled.

She ignored him and closed her eyes while she sighed.

She then accidentally bumped into something due to having her eyes closed and fell down with her tray.

Then...all the plates on Ingrid’s tray broke.

“Owww…” Ingrid rubbed her head in pain while she was on the ground.

She opened her eyes and saw what happened. She realised that she didn’t bump into something but rather someone and that they fell down too along with her and the broken dishes.

Ingrid panicked. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you. I should’ve seen where I was going.”

The girl that Ingrid was staring at had blue hair and then looked at Ingrid. She finally saw the blue haired girl’s face.

Ingrid felt confused. She’d never seen this person before.

Ingrid could then hear some voices behind her.

_“Isn’t that the transfer student?”_

_“Oh man the transfer and Ingrid are in some deep crap…”_

_“Damn..I’d hate to be in the transfer’s and the other one’s position right now.”_

Ingrid then realised why she didn’t recognise the person after hearing those people speak.

It was the transfer student, everyone was talking in Ingrid's class too because she hung out with the student council president in the morning... Byleth Eisner.

Byleth rubbed her head and looked at Ingrid again.

Ingrid felt terrible. “Are you ok? I’m so sorry, I’m such a fool. Did I hurt you at all?”

Byleth shook her head and talked in a very unconvincing tone. “No. I’m not hurt at all.”

Ingrid’s frown deepened due to Byleth’s unintentional emotionless expression. She assumed that Byleth was being modest even though she actually wasn’t. “Please don’t be modest. I’m so sorry, let me help you up.”

She stood up and reached for Byleth’s hand.

Byleth blinked at the hand and she grabbed it which helped her back on her feet.

“I-”

“Did you girls break the dishes?”

Byleth and Ingrid then turned around to see one of the cooks standing there with his arms crossed.

He didn’t seem very pleased at all.

“I...did. She didn’t have anything to do with it.” Ingrid sighed.

Byleth shook her head. “No we just bumped into each other. It was an accident.”

The chef gave them a look, trying to decide whether or not if that was actually true or not.

He sighed. “Ok. I’ll let you both off just this once but if you do this again, you will receive detention and be charged more for the damages. Understood?”

Byleth and Ingrid nodded.

“Good. Now clean up the mess you’ve made.” The chef demanded.

They both attempted to do what she demanded from them to do.

He then yelled out loud to all the tables. “Do not stand in this area, walk around it when you leave thanks.”

The chef walked away which made Ingrid sigh in relief.

A lot of the students were still staring at them both though.

While Byleth and Ingrid kept putting the broken pieces of the dishes into the bin, Ingrid apologised again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry, It’s fine.”

Ingrid sighed as she and Byleth continued. “It really wasn’t. You haven’t eaten yet have you?”

“No. That’s ok.”

“No it isn’t. Lunch is almost over.”

“I’ll be fine.” Byleth said.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow…” Ingrid sighed.

“You don’t need to. Mind if I ask your name though?”

“My name is Ingrid Brandi Galatea! It’s nice to meet you, though I did wish I met you without myself being foolish.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ingrid.” Byleth nodded.

Meanwhile, a lot of people stopped staring at Ingrid and Byleth. Including some of the people on Dimitri’s table.

Though Dimitri noticed their conversation and so did Sylvain.

They couldn’t hear them but they could see that they were talking like old friends in a sense.

Sylvain laughed. “Well that’s certainly a way to make a first impression!”

Felix rolled his eyes at the statement.

Then the bell rang.

Which meant lunch was over.

Most of the students started rushing and running to leave.

Dimitri included. However as he left, he slightly glimpsed at Byleth again.

But then he quickly looked away.

He’d offer to help but they were almost finished already. He most likely wasn’t allowed to anyway.

He sighed and shrugged it off.

\-----

When the clock reached 3:00, the bell for the class rang.

“Alright brats. That’s it for the day. More classes will happen tomorrow.” Mr Kinsley screeched and left the classroom.

All of the students went to their lockers to grab their bags including Byleth.

Some of the students were leaving but others were staying back due to… well after school club activities.

But it didn’t matter at the moment because Byleth really didn’t want to get pestered about clubs again.

She went to her locker and got out her bag.

“Hello there.”

Byleth looked to her left to see a green haired boy and a red haired boy.

“We apologize if we are making any inconvenience but have you seen a girl with long green hair in a ponytail? Her name is Lyn.” The red haired boy asked.

Byleth looked confused and shook her head.

“Ah well thank you anyway, come on Sain.” The red haired boy started to walk away.

“Wait Kent! We should invite her-”

The red haired boy named Kent grabbed Sain by the ear and dragged him away.

Byleth blinked and thought to herself. _“What was that about?”_

She then realised that she was still at her locker and might be late to her train. She checked her phone and saw that it was already 3:06 pm.

So she started to make her way to the train.

When she was finally walking back home, she thought to herself about how this day… turned out.

And how she is going to need to get used to it for the next few years…

She let out a long sigh at the thought.

When she finally arrived back home around an hour after school ended.

She knocked on the door because she still didn’t have a key yet.

Her father opened the door.

“Ah... your back.”

Byleth nodded and went inside.

“How was your first day of school?” He asked as he closed the door.

Byleth remained emotionless. “Fine.”

“Do you feel like you’ve gotten used to how it works?”

Byleth shook her head. “Not quite.”

Jeralt sighed. “I should’ve expected that answer. You hadn’t been to a real school before, I imagine it must have been difficult.”

“I will get used to it though.” Byleth quickly added.

“Huh. I’m glad you're confident about it. How’d your classes go?”

“A bit different to what I’m normally used to but I’m sure i’ll get over it.”

“Do you like your teachers?” Jeralt asked.

Byleth’s lips started to form into a frown. “Well...I don’t really like my Homeroom teacher.”

“What was his name again?”

“Mr Kinsley.”

“...Is that actually his name?” Jeralt slightly snorted.

“Yes.” Byleth nodded.

“Is he a- Heh never mind. Um, have you met any people there?” Jeralt asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you like them? Were they nice to you?”

Byleth paused a bit, trying to think on how she should answer that. “Sort of. They were nice but most people seem to want me to join their school clubs.”

Jeralt groaned as if he knew that feeling. “Ugh of course they do…. Well, try to make some friends there. I’m sure there are some people who will like you outside of the idea of you joining their dumb club.”

“You think so?”

Jeralt smiled. “I know so.”

Byleth felt like she could trust his words, it made her feel relieved.

Still though, she did wonder how the next few school days will end up…

...It will take some time to get used to though that was for sure.

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This might be the last chapter for a while. I’m sorry! More exams are coming up and...there is another reason but I won’t say. At least not yet. Anyways I apologise for the inconvenience /: 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyways and I hope some of you caught some of the references from certain other games aha. :D


	6. Surprise

It was the second day of school while also being the last day of school for the week but even then Byleth was still unable to get used to everything.

In the morning, Byleth was walking to the gates of the school, with her headphones over her head so no one will pester her about joining their school club.

Though it was hard to hear the music due to the chatter around her.

Then suddenly the chatter quietened down, as if it was getting further away from her ears.

She didn't understand how that was the case but she felt relieved that she could finally listen to her music more easily.

_"Reach for my hand~"_

_"I'll Soar Away~"_

_"Into the Da-"_

**"GAHHHHHH! I CRASHED AGAIN"**

Byleth was startled from the interruption of her listening and she looked around to see where the interruption came from.

Then she saw a bike on the ground, surprisingly not broken.

She could already tell what it was from now...

"OWWWWWWWWWW! NOT AGAIN!!! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?!?!"

The girl, the orange haired girl from the first day was the one who caused the crash of her bike which caused her to faceplant to the ground.

She was struggling to get up and yet no one around her bothered to help. They would just glance for a few seconds. Some would even snicker.

It seemed like they were used to her doing this or something of the sort.

Byleth stared at the orange haired girl who was whining about the pain she was probably feeling.

"Grrr why can't I- Stupid stupid stupid!" The orange haired girl groaned in annoyance.

Byleth stared at her and then sighed.

_"Maybe I should help her out..."_ Byleth thought to herself and so she walked towards the orange haired girl.

Without warning she held her hand out for the orange haired girl's hand and she grabbed it without looking up at Byleth. Byleth helped her up.

The orange haired girl sighed in relief while she was standing but didn't look up to see who helped her. "Thanks Mercie... Why do I-"

She turned her head and cut herself off when she realised it wasn't Mercedes who helped her out.

She then quickly blushed. "Wait you're not- Ahh! I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz"

"It's ok. I guess I should've given warning about me helping you." Byleth reassured her.

The orange haired girl sighed and then threw Byleth a smile. "Well regardless, you helped out back there. Thank you so much!"

"No worries." Byleth said and she continued to walk towards the gates.

The orange haired girl tried to pick up her bike and roll it to the school gates. When she did, she walked not far behind Byleth.

Her eyes then widened when she realised something about Byleth and so she ran up next to her. "Hold on, you don't look familiar. Oh! Are you that transfer student everyone's been talking about?!"

Byleth nodded and continued walking with the orange haired girl. "Well...I mean I am a transfer student but...people have been talking about me?"

She nodded her head and clenched her fists in excitement. "Uh huh! People won't stop talking about you! There are rumours spreading about you and Edelgard. You're the talk of the school! They believe that you're Edelgard's cousin, her secretary, second assistant or something."

Byleth looked a bit pale, she did have a feeling that people were going to continue to gossip about her being with Edelgard considering they were doing so the other day but she didn't think that would give her that kind of attention. Why was it such an enormous deal? Was it...rare for Edelgard to do this?

Annette shook her head and continued. "Anyways, your name is...uh... Byleth..right? Did I pronounce that right?"

Byleth nodded again. "Yes that's my name and yes."

"Whew thank goodness I got it right! Oh and my name is Annette Fantine-Dominic!" Annette held out her hand.

Byleth grabbed it and shook Annette's hand. "It's nice to meet you!"

"You too! Hey are you-"

Annette got cut off by the sound of the school bell ringing which had her let go of Byleth's hand.

"Oh no that's the bell! My teacher will kill me if I end up late again! Well, I need to run but I promise to repay you for your help this morning!" Annette smiled at Byleth, dumped the almost broken bike to the side and waved to her as she ran ahead.

Byleth was going to say that repaying wasn't necessary but Annette was already gone by the time she could even open her mouth to say that.

At any rate, she should probably start heading off to class too.

So she started to fast walk, she didn't want to be scolded by Mr Kinsley...

When she got there surprisingly early, Mr Kinsley wasn't there yet.

The purple haired student's seat was empty too but it was empty most of yesterday too so it wasn't utterly surprising.

Byleth sighed in relief at the fact that Mr Kinsley hadn't arrived yet and sat in her spot. She laid her head on her hand.

"Good Morning!"

Byleth looked up at the direction the voice came from.

It was from the student again, Edelgard.

She was...standing at the side of her chair or rather the only way she could leave...

Edelgard smiled kindly but Byleth couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable...

"Um good morning!" Byleth waved a bit.

Various other students including the ones behind her, for some reason, felt the need to watch this sudden interaction between Byleth and Edelgard.

Edelgard continued grinning. "So Byleth... I was wondering if you'd like to join me after school? My council meeting has been cancelled."

Claude was now watching but neither Byleth nor Edelgard were aware of his presence.

Byleth blinked. "Uh...why do you want me to join you?"

Edelgard's smile fell slightly. "Because I'd like to get to know you more! I also wanted to check in with you if you're comfortable in this school."

A certain someone was more confused than everyone else. Edelgard rarely showed this much interest in anyone at the school. This was the second time he had ever seen her show any remote interest.

Byleth frowned and quickly shook her head. "Sorry...I'm uh busy."

Edelgard's eyes were filled with a mix of surprise and disappointment. "That's a shame. What are you busy with then?"

Byleth felt a bit of sweat on her back, she didn't even know why she was making up excuses at the moment.

But for some reason...she didn't want to be involved with Edelgard...

It felt mean sure..but Byleth couldn't remove the feeling that Edelgard has some ulterior motive.

"Busy with work.. Uh homework.. I'll be studying in the school library after school. I um...like to get things done before the weekend?" Byleth stuttered.

"Oh... I understand. Well would you like me to help you in the library?" Edelgard's eyes beamed.

Byleth shook her head. "No..It's fine. I'd like to try and work on my own but I appreciate the offer."

"Hmm...that's a shame then. Well, allow me to warn you that the library is rather chaotic and I have no doubt that some students will demand for you to join their club. It must be rather frustrating to be in that position..unless you've joined a club?" Edelgard's eyes suddenly shined after saying that last sentence.

Byleth shook her head. "No I haven't joined yet."

"I assume you have no interest in any club yet."

"Well...yeah not really." Byleth shamefully admitted, already forgetting about the club the girls mentioned on the train the other day.

"Well if you have no interest in joining then why not join the student council?! No one would pester you again and you have remarkable talents to join too!" Edelgard suggested.

...Absolutely no one expected that suggestion from her.

Byleth looked at her with a frown. "Um... wouldn't I need to talk to the student council president and gain her permission to join something like that first of all?"

"Do not worry about that. You've already gained my attention." Edelgard smiled.

"...? Wait, are you the student council president?" Byleth realised.

Edelgard nodded proudly. "Yes. Would that make you feel better about joining?"

Byleth looked slightly pale. "Uh..I never said that I was going to join."

Edelgard's smile fell. "Oh but you should, we could really use someone like you in the council."

Byleth felt uncomfortable but Edelgard didn't notice.

However other students did.

Edelgard continued. "So what do you say? Will you-"

"Hey your royalness!"

Byleth and Edelgard both looked at the direction the voice came.

It was from Claude. He was walking towards the two girls.

He threw Edelgard a smirk to annoy her. "Don't you think you're being reckless here?"

"Excuse me? Reckless?" Edelgard frowned.

"She's new here and you're already pressuring her to join the student council." Claude facepalmed.

"I didn't pressure her. Claude, stay out of this conversation, you have nothing to do with this." Edelgard scowled.

"Well your royalness, if someone is pressuring someone they barely know then I have no choice to be part of it."

"I just told you, I didn't pressure her."

"Listen Edelgard, I don't mean to be rude but can't you just allow her to make her own choices?"

Edelgard bit her lip and sighed.

Hilda, who was eavesdropping on the whole conversation, couldn't resist adding a comment. "I get the feeling you're only saying that Claude is so she could join your club, right?"

Edelgard frowned at Claude when Hilda pointed that out. "Oh yeah, you have a point there. Trying to sound like the reasonable one so she could join your club, that's very like you and your schemes isn't it Claude?"

Byleth remained silent, not wanting to be involved in this chaos anymore.

"Edie, Claude, just leave her alone already." A beautiful girl with long brown hair yelled out from the back of the classroom.

Edelgard sighed. "Dorothea, I wasn't-"

"So you want her in your choir too?" Hilda turned around to the back of her seat and grinned.

Dorothea shook her head. "No I do not. I'm just sick of you all pestering her. The only one I want to convince to join the choir isn't even here right now."

"You mean the delinquent Yuri? He's never in class you know." Hilda snorted.

"I know that Hilly, anyways all of you leave her alone. Honestly..." Dorothea sighed.

Edelgard finally gave in and she returned to her seat as did Claude.

Byleth wondered about whatever it was she just witnessed until she heard some stomping towards the classroom entrance.

"Alright brats, Open your textbooks!" Mr Kinsley crankily walked in and made his normal demands.

"Psst..."

Byleth looked around where she was sitting, when she heard a faint whisper.

"Next to you!" She heard the whisper again but to her right ear and so she turned around to the right.

The whisper came from Hilda, she had a small smile on her face.

"Sorry about all that, Claude and Edelgard must've been a real pain to deal with. Anyways I-"

"Hey Pinky! Are you talking in my class?!" Mr Kinsley must've heard her.

"Oh uh nah, totally not." She said in a sweet tone.

"Don't take me as an idiot, I will not hesitate to put your braindead mind in detention, ya hear?" Mr Kinsley

"Yes Mr Kinsley..." Hilda whined.

"Hmph. Anyways class, open up ya textbooks to-"

\-----

School had ended before Byleth had the chance to even blink.

First thing she did was walk up to the library, thankfully most people didn't try to pester her again.

While the fact that she wanted to get homework done before the weekend was a lie, what wasn't a lie is that she did actually have a lot of homework. Today would be a good time to try and see if the library would be a good place to study.

While she walked up stairs, she remembered that she should text her father about this so she quickly got her phone out of her pocket and sent a text to her father.

**Byleth: I'll be studying in the library after school so I'm gonna be a bit late back home.**

She started to put her phone back in her pocket but she felt a buzz from the phone before she put it back in her pocket.

She checked her phone, seeing a text message notification.

**Jeralt: Ok**

Then another buzz.

**Jeralt: Just don't be too late.**

Byleth chuckled a bit and typed.

**Byleth: Don't worry it won't be too long**

She then sent it and put it back in her pocket.

She was already in front of the library's door before she knew it.

She put her hand on the door handle and pushed it.

Nothing happened.

"Oh I meant to pull..." She facepalmed and then pulled the door handle towards her.

The door then opened before her eyes and she saw that the library was rather...crowded.

Almost too crowded in fact.

She started to wonder if this was a good idea after all...

She shook her head and stepped inside the library.

Ironically despite being a library, it was insanely loud due to the amount of chattering students.

Byleth though had her headphones and phone to listen to so the chatter will die down in her ears. She normally studies while listening to music anyway, it helps her.

She sat on a seat at a small desk and put out all her notes on the table in front of her.

She then plugged her headphones in her phone and she played a song by a singer known as Azura.

She grabbed her pencil and read the questions while she listened to the songs play.

_"You are the ocean's grey waves..."_

_"Destined to seek..."_

"Did you hear? Edelgard is inviting the transfer student to the student council...!"

"What?! How am I just finding this out? When did this happen?"

Byleth's grip on her pencil hardened as it was impossible to listen to music with this ridiculous chatter.

She looked around to see that she wasn't actually the only one having this problem.

A green haired guy was struggling to fall asleep and there were some students who kept putting their hands over their ears.

Byleth frowned, she wondered if this was technically her fault and Edelgard's since most of the students' gossip was about her and Edelgard again...

People were talking about that earlier in the day and it annoyed her to bits.

So she turned up the volume.

_"Yet the waters_ **HAHAHAHAHAHA** _..nge"_

"You think if we invite the transfer student over to our club, Edelgard would consider joining too since her best friend is going?"

"Not the most logical thing in the world you know..."

"Worth a shot!"

Byleth sighed, she just wished that they all would be quiet regardless of what they're talking about because this was getting annoying.

It was a library, not a place to be loud in.

"Is the reason why people won't shut up about the transfer student, I don't know her name, like Lilith or something, because of Edelgard and even because of that loser?"

"It seems that way. If neither interacted with her, no one would give a crap about her."

"That's disappointing...I thought it'd be for a better reason."

Byleth turned up the volume even higher, it didn't matter what it was they talked about anymore, she just wanted people to shut up.

Though she did wonder who they were referring to as the "loser", but she wanted to focus on her work despite how boring it was.

_"In the white light..."_

_"A hand reaches thro-_ HEY AREN'T YOU THE TRANSFER STUDENT?"

Byleth was interrupted from someone screaming into her ears

She put down her headphones and looked to the direction.

Byleth slightly glanced to the side to see a pink haired girl give her a look of pity.

And she looked like she was trying not to sigh or something of the sort.

Byleth looked back at the few people who were standing before her.

There were A LOT of people with sparkles in their eyes staring at her.

"Can you please join the astronomy club?!

"No Join the debate team!"

"No, join the literature club!"

"There is nothing cool about literature, Sayori!"

"Join the fashion club! You seem like you have-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Byleth had enough.

She packed up her things and ran out the library as fast as she could.

Even though they weren't chasing her, she still ran.

She didn't look where she was even going ahead of her, she didn't care enough to do so.

"Gods...that was so annoying..." Byleth loudly mumbled to herself.

She ran and ran.

Then suddenly, she bumped into something...

Or rather someone... and fell backwards.

The person she bumped into shrieked as he or she fell back too.

"GAHHH!"

Byleth quickly scolded the person and started to look at the person she bumped into. "Watch where you ar- ...?"

She bumped into a girl with her long orange hair in a unique hair style. She looked familiar.

The girl had her hand over her forehead. "I'm sorry...though it wasn't my fault, it was yo- Huh?!"

The oranged haired girl looked up at Byleth and she seemed surprised.

"...Byleth?" She spoke.

"Annette? What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question! I wa- OW..." Annette instinctively put her head over her forehead again and whined a bit from the pain.

Byleth looked at Annette and went slightly pale. She was just about to blame Annette for something that was actually her fault. "Annette! I'm so sorry, I should've looked where I was going."

"It's...fine. Um what were you in a hurry for?"

"I was just...sick of the chatter in the library. It was so loud that I couldn't even hear the music in my headphones. Not to mention people were pestering me to join a club so I ran." Byleth said bluntly

Annette blinked and then she gasped when she had an idea. "How about you study in my club room?!"

Byleth looked a bit pale despite her lack of expression on her face. "Annette, please don't pester me to-"

"No I didn't mean it like that! I mean, why not study in the club room? It is slightly loud but we aren't loud enough for you to not hear the music in your headphones!"

"I...uh would that be ok?"

"Of course! I mean, I'm sure the members and the leader won't mind" Annette says with a confident grin and she grabs the transfer student's hand and runs towards the club room.

Not long after, they were right in front of the club room door.

Annette pushes the door open with it making a creaking noise.

"Ah Annette, have yo-?" Someone's voice cut themselves off when they looked at them both.

When the door was wide open, Byleth's blue eyes recognised something... or rather someone.

The boy with yellow hair...Alexandre

His eyes twitched a bit when he saw her, he seemed rather surprised to see her too.

Annette smiled and put her and Byleth's arm in the air. "Allow me to introduce the transfer student! Byleth Eisner!"

Byleth's eyes drifted towards the room.

_Well this was going to be an interesting day..._

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm not entirely sure if the characters were in character. Sorry if the characters seemed ooc in this part, feel free to tell me if they were. I also apologise if I made Byleth unintentionally annoying or anything like that. And yes, Annette's introduction is indeed based of Yosuke's meeting in Persona 4 lol. 
> 
> Now this author's note is going to be embarrassingly long, sorry lol. I just wanted to ask you all something.
> 
> Now, I wanted to ask you all this, just like I asked in my other fanfic. Last month, I missed Dimileth week and I want to make up for it (excluding some dimitri week prompts that I may write in my personal book) so I'd like to ask you guys this. I plan on writing a shorter dimileth fanfic that's around 8-16 chapters. I've already written drafts for two and I'm curious to see what you guys would like to see the most!
> 
> A dimileth modern au that has a school play? There will be a bit of world building and Sothis is actually going to be a student who is close with Byleth! The book's title will be "Tale As Old As Time" which spoils the title of the play that's chosen aha. Yes, the school play I was planning for it to be from the beginning was indeed Beauty and The Beast lol. I think you can guess who will be play as belle and the beast but I plan to make Felix get the part of Cogsworth in the play, Sylvain gets Lumiere, Annette will get Ms pots and basically all of the blue lion students will get a role which is how they get closer. Now I'll admit, this story is a bit cliched but it's all just for fun in the end and not something to take too seriously. It's something that I definitely will try my best in and researching for it will be annoying because I plan to use the scripts that schools used in real life (if you don't know, the script and some scenes are different when schools act it out) but it will be most like the original movie too because the original is a personal favourite movie of mine.
> 
> Or a Dimileth fantasy au? I'm going to try and keep it brief. The title for it right now is "Lily of the Nile" but it's possible for it to change. It is set in fe3h world but has some changes done on it, mainly being about the characters. I got the idea to do this kind of story from playing games like Yonder, My Time at Portia and many other farming sims that allow you to explore and forage. All of the characters, excluding a few, all live in Remire village and live different lives and roles. Byleth in this story, is an emotionless monster hunter (but she shows more emotions as time goes on and even falls in love because of you know who) that protects the village from serious threats but gets distracted easily due to surroundings (she is still cautious though). She loves crafting, fishing and foraging materials whenever it is possible and Jeralt will be the chief of the village. Characters have various roles such as Ashe and Dedue run their own restaurant in the town, Dorothea and Manuela love to perform plays and musicals for the town especially in festivals, Leonie, Petra and Felix are monster hunters too and Leonie tries to compete with Byleth sometimes etc. I won't say too much else but other than the fact that it's a dimileth au and I had admittedly too much fun planning it bahaha. The only problem I have with it is that it feels a bit similar to another dimileth au I'm planning (the meeting is similar etc) but I can try and fix that. Like I said, one of the main reasons I'd like to do a short story is just for fun.
> 
> Anyways I'm going to say that I am definitely leaning towards the second one but I will love to do either. I worked hard on them both and I really want to know which one you guys would rather read! Regardless of which one picked, that doesn't mean the other will be scrapped, I just most likely will do it far later. But yeah, please comment which one you would rather see the most!
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I think I'm going to go to sleep lol since it's night. But yeah, hopefully the next update is soon(:


	7. Inevitable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys, Happy New Year! ahaha... Oh boy this is overdue, I'm so sorry! I wanted to apologise in advance for how...fast paced this chapter might seem (or at least in comparison to all of the other chapters so far). And minor spoilers for this chapter but I also wanted to say that Byleth explaining the rules of chess was written because embarrassingly I always forget how to play (and I hope I'm not the only who has this problem lmao) so now I know where to go lol. 
> 
> Anyways yeah, this is all I have to say. I might edit this chapter later if I'm not satisfied with it but we'll have to see. Now no more chatter, let's just get into it!

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Byleth found herself staring at the boy with the yellow hair.

_The amount of coincidences...it was straight up ridiculous._

“Byleth?”

She snapped out of her thoughts as Annette put her hand on her shoulder.

“You were spacing out for a moment there, you alright?” Annette asked.

“I’m fine... Don’t worry Annette.” Byleth nodded to Annette and stopped focusing on the boy.

Finally someone in the clubroom spoke. A boy with blue hair and with freckles on his cheeks to be specific. “Um Annette…?”

He stopped himself from speaking any further.

Annette spoke up to explain her actions. “Now this might seem a bit out of place but she needs to find a place to study because apparently the library is full of chatter so I suggested for her to work here!”

They all seemed a bit puzzled by this suggestion.

Well except for two people there. Alexandre refused to look at her and Gautier was smirking at him for some reason.

Byleth sighed, she knew exactly why he was avoiding eye contact.

“Listen, I’m not against her studying here but we might be disruptive considering how intense some of us are…” The girl, Ingrid that she met the other day said that as she shot a look at a boy with dark blue hair as she said that.

Byleth shook her head. “Do not worry about that, I normally study with my headphones on so I most likely won’t hear you. I promise I won’t cause any trouble either.”

“Oh no! I know you won’t cause trouble, I’m just worried if we will unintentionally do so for you.” Ingrid held her head down in shame.

Byleth shook her head and smiled at Ingrid’s concern. “Don’t worry, I highly doubt that you’ll be disruptive but would you all mind if I studied in the corner table over there?”

Ingrid nodded. “Well I have no objections and I do owe you from yesterday after all.”

“Owe her…?” Annette asked.

“I bumped into her as she was getting her food and she ended up not eating.” Ingrid seemed rather embarrassed.

Gautier giggled. “Hahaha! That’s right you did, didn’t you Ingrid?”

Byleth shook her head. “Not a big deal Ingrid.”

The girl with long pale blonde hair seemed puzzled. “Um pardon me but you don’t seem familiar… Oh! Are you that transfer student everyone is talking about?”

Byleth nodded. “Yes I am.”

“Oh that’s you? People won’t stop talking about you in my class due to the fact that you hung out with the most popular girl in the school.” A boy with white hair, said out loud.

“Hmm? Popular girl?”

Gautier’s eyes widened. “You mean you don’t-”

“Hey, why don’t we introduce ourselves before we get into a discussion, I mean I highly doubt that she knows any of your names.” Annette interrupted them all.

“Fair point Annette, Well then I’m Ashe! It’s nice to meet you!” The boy with blue hair and freckles on his face, smiled at Byleth.

Byleth had a deadpan look on her face for some reason despite being thrilled to meet new people. “It’s very nice to meet you too Ashe!”

“And I’m Mercedes!” The girl with pale blonde hair smiled cheesily.

“Hello Mercedes.” Byleth just nodded.

The boy named Gautier went closer to her and bowed. “Well, hello there Byleth. I’m sure you know me already since we are in the same class.”

“Yeah I do. Mr Kinsley seems to really not like you, Gautier…”

Gautier laughed at that response. “Haha! You aren’t wrong but I don’t like him either. Well anyways, my actual name is Sylvain Jose Gautier, it’s a pleasure to meet someone as beautiful as-”

Ingrid yelled at him. “Seriously Sylvain? Flirting already?”

Byleth couldn’t help but get a little happy at the silliness of this interaction.

Sylvain looked at her again and pointed at the boy with dark blue hair. “And that cold guy right there is my good childhood buddy Felix Hugo-Fraldrus”

“It’s Fraldarius fool.” The boy with dark blue hair rolled his eyes.

“And ya see? He’s quite cold to everyone.” Sylvain whispered to Byleth.

Byleth decided to take a mental note about that.

“And that guy there is Dedue.” Sylvain then pointed at the guy with white hair.

“Please do not trouble Mr Alexandre.” The boy with white hair who was Dedue bowed after he shook Byleth’s hand.

Byleth really didn’t know how to respond to that since she was still unsure about if she actually had troubled the guy he was referring to.

She didn’t mention this obviously.

“And last but not least, the one who created this good ol club, Dimitri Alexandre Bl- Dimitri Alexandre.” Sylvain chuckled a bit nervously as he pointed at the boy with bright yellow hair who was referred to as Alexandre in the classroom earlier..

Ingrid and Felix shot Sylvain a look when he said the last name which he accepted.

Dimitri finally looked at Byleth in the eyes.

Byleth got that vibe again...that there was darkness within.

And now she knew who those two girls on the train were talking about before...

“Byleth Eisner it was...right?” Dimitri said in a bit of a nervous tone.

“Yes. It’s...nice to meet you Dimitri.” Byleth struggled to keep her composure, she felt unsure on what to do here.

“Pardon my rudeness, I uh..must have gotten no sleep the other night. We are also in the same class.”

“Ah...that’s right.” Byleth nodded.

Byleth glimpsed a little to the side of the room to find a chess board.

She then also remembered that the girls mentioned that Dimitri was in the chess club too.

She wondered if this was the club she was curious about joining.

Byleth shook her head, trying to remove the awkwardness of the situation and trying to confirm her assumptions. “Well it’s really great to meet you all, I hope you don’t mind me asking but type of club is this?”

“Oh right, this is the chess club! However, we aren't that serious compared to some other clubs.” Dimitri nodded.

“Why, you wanna join?” Sylvain winked at her.

“She’s probably just curious Sylvain.” Ingrid rolled her eyes.

Byleth bit her lip, she was very familiar with chess and it was one of her favourite things to do. She played against her father multiple times.

“Well? Have you played it or what?” Felix said with his arms crossed.

“I have, I’m pretty good.” Byleth admitted.

“Huh you aren’t modest about that. Well, I’ll be the judge of that, do a round with me.” Felix grinned.

“Yeah you do realise she came here to study not to play chess with you Felix.” Dimitri sighed.

“Hmph. Well boar, maybe I get tired playing against you.” Felix sighed.

“Boar...?” Byleth asked.

Dimitri coughed a bit. “Yeah...that’s what he calls me.”

“Why?”

Felix spoke quickly. “Because he’s a boar. Anyways, Chess match.”

“Felix! Don’t force her to play chess with you!” Ingrid crossed her arms.

“It’s fine Ingrid, I don’t mind playing chess with Felix, I have plenty of time anyways.” Byleth nodded.

Byleth then quickly spoke again. “Erm, as long as it’s ok I play chess that is...”

Ingrid shook her head. “Of course it’s ok but don’t do it because you feel oblig-”

“I don’t feel pressured at all, I love playing chess and I'm in no hurry at the moment.. I didn’t even know that this was the chess club until now.”

“Well ok then! I should’ve said so but ah that doesn’t matter anymore I guess.” Annette clapped her hands happily.

“There’s a chess board set up over there, I’ll set it up.” Felix said and left them.

As Felix grabbed the chess board, Byleth looked at the other club members.

“Listen, are you sure it’s ok for you to-” Sylvain said, genuinely concerned.

“Yes.” Byleth nodded.

His frown disappeared quickly at Byleth’s casual response. “Well alrighty then, I’ll take your word for it.”

“Im back...” Felix said and he had already set up the chess board.

“Right.” Byleth said.

“So yeah, you know you have to get the ki-”

“Yes, goal is to Kill the king on the opposing side, the bishops can move any number of squares diagonally, rooks move any number on the squares but only up and down and side to side, knights only move in an L shape, kings can move one square at a time, queens can move any number of squares along up and down and side to side and ranks and lastly the pawns can move only one up but move more than one at the first turn and no one cares about the pawns, I know.”

“Huh... I guess you really do know chess.” Felix grinned.

“Uh-huh. My father taught me and I tried to master it.” Byleth said.

Dimitri’s head tilted down a bit when Byleth said that but no one noticed.

“Well ok! Who's going to have the first serve!” Annette asks as she watches.

“Felix, you go first.” Byleth says.

“Ok.”

Felix moves the pawn from the far third left up two squares.

“You go now.”

Byleth nodded and put the pawn from the middle, up two squares.

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After a while, half of Felix’s pawns were gone and so were Byleth’s but...

Unlike Byleth, Felix was really unsure about what to do.

This game was rather intense as all the members watched them play, intrigued of this battle between them.

“Felix, your move.”

“Yeah I know!” Felix unintentionally snapped.

“Haha, you seem worried.” Sylvain laughed at the reaction.

“I’m not worried.” Felix took a deep breath.

He put his hand on the queen which was three squares up and four squares to the left.

His hand tightened as he held his grip on the queen, struggling on what he should do.

Byleth watched him as he debated internally what he should do.

Little did he know, she had a little plan and he didn’t seem too aware.

Felix’s eyes drifted to Byleth’s king then the knight and realised a pattern.

He smirked and used that to his advantage, he took out the knight Byleth had.

“Woah Felix, interesting move!” Annette pointed out.

Byleth didn’t seem threatened.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Felix fell right into her trap.

Felix’s queen was in the same horizontal line as her Rook and the queen was also in the same vertical line as his king.

She had no expression but she clearly feeling mischievous and so used her rook to take out the queen.

“Check.” Byleth said in an unintentional mischievous tone.

“Wha?” Felix's eyes widened when he realised that Byleth had tricked him.

“What?!” Dimitri said out loud, not expecting that move.

“Dammit!” Felix groaned.

“It’s your turn Felix.” Byleth said, somehow unaware of Felix’s frustration.

“Don’t mock me, I’m not finished yet.” Felix said.

He looked around the chess board to find another alternative.

“Trying to get out of the trouble I see?” Sylvain provoked his friend.

“Shut up.” Felix said out of instinct.

Felix's eyes drifted over the other chess pieces.

He realised he couldn’t move his king horizontally to the left because Byleth’s own queen was vertically there so he had no choice but to move it to the right.

So he did.

Byleth moved her rook to the right too. “Check.”

Felix frowned again and moved his king to the right, not realising that Byleth strategized another chess piece that could move diagonally in that line.

“You lost now Felix.”

“What?” Felix said.

Byleth put her hand on the bishop and that was when Felix realised that she was correct...

She completely tricked him and he didn’t even realise...

She then took out Felix’s king using the bishop.

“I win.” Byleth said.

No one said anything for a while.

“Woah Byleth! You weren’t kidding when you said you were good at it.” Annette said and cheered for the transfer student.

“Well I’ve practised a lot over the years.” Byleth smiled.

“You're like a master tactician!” Annette said after seeing Byleth smile for the first time and wanting to see her smile again.

“That’s a bit much...” Byleth looked away, slightly embarrassed from the compliment for some reason.

“There is no reason to be modest about your skills.” Mercedes joined in.

Sylvain gave Felix a look. “Hey Felix, need some ice?”

“For what?”

“For your sore loser?”

Felix looked like he was about to punch Sylvain after he said that.

“I’m just kidding, lighten up.” Sylvain nudged his friend.

“Well Byleth, I admit it. You have skills. You clearly know what you're doing when it comes to strategizing.” Felix crossed his arms as he faced Byleth while he laid down on his chair.

“Can you teach me sometime? I’d like to be that good sometime!” Ashe said.

“Alright.” Byleth nodded.

Ingrid realised something. “Wait can you-”

She got interrupted with the sound of some jingle then an announcement.

“Attention students, this is your principal speaking. I apologise to this but I’ll need all the students and staff to stop what you're doing and go home by ten past four. All those in club activities, you have to cancel early. We apologise once again for the inconvenience, it’s nothing too serious for you all to worry about. Please leave now.”

“What! I didn’t know that was going to happen!” Annette poked her tongue out.

“You heard him, we have to evacuate.” Dimitri sighed.

“Awww.... We didn’t even do much today, we just-”

Annette then quickly turned to Byleth when she realised that Byleth never ended up studying in the room like she promised.

“OH MY GOSH BYLETH I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN’T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! YOU WANTED TO STUDY BUT WE PREVENTED YOU FROM DOING SO!!! AHHHHH IM SO SORRY!”

“Annette, don’t apologise for that.” Byleth shook her head.

“Ah I guess it’s my fault, I’m the one who suggested a match.” Felix sighed, a bit ashamed to admit.

“Wow taking responsibilities Felix?” Sylvain stared at his friend.

“I told you to shut up Sylvain.” Felix had his arms crossed.

“Don’t blame yourselves for that, it’s ok...” Byleth reassured them.

“I’ll make it up to you somehow... again. I’m sorry Byleth!” Annette kept bowing as everyone else packed their bags to leave.

“Really, you're overreacting, it’s fine.” Byleth shook her head.

Byleth then looked away. “But um... I’d like to ask something.”

“Huh? What?” Annette asked.

“Um...Can I join this club?”

No one expected that question.

Annette grinned happily. “Of course you can! If anything, please join!”

“We’d love to have you.” Mercedes spoke.

“Aslong as I have a rematch with you sometime.” Felix crossed his arms.

“Deal.”

“Then join.” Felix smirked.

Ingrid and Sylvain exchanged looks, not sure how to feel about it.

They barely knew her so it felt weird to invite her to join but... at the same time, they knew she would be a good addition to the club.

“Dimitri! Would it be ok if she joins?!” Annette asks.

Dimitri, who was even more unsure about the idea, was startled at the confrontation.

He was tempted to say no because...he got an unnerving feeling with her but...

He knew that would be a selfish and silly reason to not let her in.

And she did actually like chess after all...

He sighed. “Yes. Club activities are on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You just need to talk to the teacher who sets the club members up.”

Byleth slightly frowned. “Who is that exactly?”

“Miss Nevrand, she might still be here but I recommend to be quick because they really want us out of here. I’ll go with you so she knows I’m up for it.” Dimitri said.

“I’ll come too!” Annette said cheerfully.

“Good luck guys!” Ashe said as he waved while he left.

“If she says yes, add her to the group chat Annie.” Mercedes said.

Annette nodded. “Oh yeah! Of course!”

“We should go to the faculty office now, we only have fifteen minutes.” Dimitri said as he looked at the time on his phone.

“Ok let’s go!” Annette got a head start while Byleth and Dimitri tried to follow from behind.

As Byleth and Dimitri walked near one another behind Annette, they looked in the opposite direction, refusing to look at one another.

Dimitri eventually said something. “Uh... So how is your time at the Officer’s Academy? Do you enjoy it so far?”

Byleth lifted her head up a bit. “Yeah sort of. Not too fond of our homeroom teacher admittedly.”

“Yeah uh...I’m not either.”

They both fell silent again, it was incredibly awkward.

“Well Byleth um.. I hope you enjoy the chess club. Everyone wasn’t wrong about your phenomenal skills in chess. Watching you reminded myself that I have much to learn still from playing chess.” Dimitri said.

Byleth looked at him, with a deadpan look despite being happy about the praise. “Thank you Dimitri, I really appreciate that.”

She said that but her face...said something else.

She certainly meant what she said but Dimitri couldn’t confirm that because he couldn’t even tell.

“Right...” Dimitri frowned.

“Hey guys! Come on! The faculty office is just ahead!” Annette yelled out.

Dimitri said. “Oh uh... we should follow her.”

“Yes.”

They tried to catch up to her as she knocked on the faculty offices’ door.

“Hello? Is Miss Nevrand here?” Annette said.

Eventually someone opened it and it was a purple haired woman who seemed to have a cold expression.

“Something you need? You kids should be leaving.” Miss Nevrand said in a raspy voice.

“Can I please be a club member for the Chess Club?” Byleth asked.

Miss Nevrand looked up and down silently and then spoke again. “Hmm... I guess I’ll try to get you in that club by next Tuesday. Well is your leader ok with it?”

Dimitri nodded. “Yes. It’s ok.”

She sighed. “Very well. I’ll get you in, paperwork will be a pain but I’ll do my best. You’ll most likely be allowed in this rate so call yourself a club member for the chess club. You should all leave now though, you aren’t allowed to be here at this current time.”

She closed the door and Annette let out a cheer. “Yesss!”

“I have to head, I’ll see you all on Monday and thank you for joining our club Byleth.” Dimitri bowed.

“Thanks for letting me in.”

Dimitri then turned around to walk away.

Byleth thought to herself as he walked away from her...

“Hey Byleth!”

Byleth snapped out of her own thoughts when Annette called her.

“Can I please get your number?” Annette said happily.

Byleth blinked a bit and smiled which caught Annette off guard.

Byleth read out her number as Annette put it in.

Annette squealed in excitement. “Awesome! I’ll text you when I get home! Well see ya!”

Annette ran away while Byleth was just standing around.

She really liked Annette’s company... She was such a fun person..

And maybe she could even call her a friend...

She smiled even wider at the thought of having a friend now...

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End file.
